Historical News and Views from the Empire State

James Howard Kunstler On Rescuing the American Townscape

The Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (SPLIA) will present a lecture &#8220Rescuing the American Townscape from its Own Recent History&#8221 by author James Howard Kunstler.

James Howard Kunstler is a vocal critic of American architecture and urban planning which he describes as a tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities and ravaged countryside. For two decades, Kunstler has examined the growth of urban and suburban America.With his classics of social critique, The Geography of Nowhere and Home from Nowhere, he established himself as one of the great commentators on America’s man-made landscapes, broadcasting the message that “a land full of places that are not worth caring about will soon be a nation and a way of life that is not worth defending.”

Kunstler will delve into landscapes on Long Island and across America. He will argue that the time for “magical thinking” is over and the time is at hand to roll up our sleeves and get to work with our neighbors.

The event will take place at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Grace Auditorium, One Bungtown Road (off of 25A), Laurel Hollow, New York on Sunday, January 6, 2013 at 3:00 PM. The cost is $20. SPLIA will also be presenting its Howard Sherwood Award for exceptional achievement in preservation.

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